


Tea at Midnight

by SeverusSnep



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Comfort, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, F/M, Implied/Referenced Character Death, Implied/Referenced Torture, Nightmares
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-30
Updated: 2020-08-30
Packaged: 2021-03-06 17:48:49
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 368
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26202937
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SeverusSnep/pseuds/SeverusSnep
Summary: Severus Snape's "nocturnal hauntings", as he likes to call them, are becoming much less common, but now he's not alone. Literally.
Relationships: Hermione Granger/Severus Snape
Comments: 16
Kudos: 70





	Tea at Midnight

It had been a while since he had those dreams. A few months to be exact. But it had been years since the war had been won. By whom he was never truly sure. He supposed others would simply call what he experienced to be nightmares. He vaguely remembered his pet name for them: nocturnal hauntings.

Visions of the mark being seared into his skin. Of all the heinous initiation rituals they made him perform. Of Lily’s body, dead and limp on the floor. Of having his mind ripped into by the Dark Lord. Of their revolting revels. Of Charity begging for his help. Of Albus falling from the astronomy tower. Of that damned snake tearing into his flesh and its venom coursing through his body. 

He would always wake up in a cold sweat and not be able to sleep for the rest of the night. The next day he would amble around like a ghost without purpose. A mere shell of a man, tortured by his twisted past (which had then been the present). Those dreams were now far and few between but on occasion, and for no apparent reason, they would persist. He assumed it was guilt he could never quite banish from his subconscious. Tonight he had those same horrific dreams and he woke up in the same cold sweat, a cry strangled in his throat. But this night was different. 

Tonight, his wife woke up with him and immediately took him into her arms. She rubbed soothing circles across his back and whispered to him about how everything was okay and it wasn’t his fault and that he was safe and loved. Tonight, he would sit alone for only a few minutes as she got up to go make him tea. Then he would sip it slowly in bed while she held his hand. He would know that tomorrow would be better, that he would wake up and get to be next to her. He’d get to kiss her again tomorrow and make her smile. That’s all that mattered anymore. But for tonight he would curl up against her, she would hold him, and he would fall back asleep feeling safe and loved.

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you so much for reading! I hope you enjoyed it! :)


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